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Topic: Test for Africanized bees? (Read 1228 times)

I was told that if you trap or capture a swarm in Alabama you must have the bees checked by the state to determine if you have Africanized bees, I hadn't heard or read anything about this. Does anyone have any info or experience with this?

The least conclusive is the FABIS. None of the tests for AHB are conclusive. I think the best test is the "kick" test... if you kick the hive and the pour out after you, you don't want to keep those...

The least conclusive is the FABIS. None of the tests for AHB are conclusive. I think the best test is the "kick" test... if you kick the hive and the pour out after you, you don't want to keep those...

Note to self, "Don't do this unless fully suited". :-DJim

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"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."--Mark Twain

I did a cutout last spring. At first I could work them in shorts and a T shirt. By July they were so aggressive I had to move them to a friends. Anyway, I called the inspector and he came to take a sample to have tested. He told me after the inspection and queen pinching that they were a 10 out of 10 for defensiveness. They tested to be European. Definitely the kick test applied to these!

I had a swarm of bees mean'ern who thought it and the State Inspector came by and took samples from a Hive in my bee yard at home and another from a bee yard I have 3 miles away.He took the samples to Little Rock and did 2 test.They did the FABIS Test and if they looked suspicious they did a DNA test.Both hives came back negative.I re-queened both hives and in a few weeks they had calmed way down.We have Africanized Bees in South Arkansas and they are spreading North.They advised me not to accept any feral bees in southwest Arkansas.